


Rising from the Ashes

by Amelia Abernathy (authr2b)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-03-23 04:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3754783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authr2b/pseuds/Amelia%20Abernathy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren Yeager and Armin Arlert are the owners of Phoenix Rising Tatto Parlor and Rivaille Flower Shop, and they meet when Krista decides the parlor needs some decoration.</p><p>Dedicated to tumblr user ereminions</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Decoration

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Never a Rose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2651924) by [PlayingChello](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlayingChello/pseuds/PlayingChello). 



> I decided on writing this after reading Never a Rose and seeing some other tags and master-posts for AUs which included a similar theme. This was originally going to be a Yumikuri fic, but I found something a bit more suitable for them. 
> 
> And don't dwell too hard on the title, I just needed something nice and remembered one of the tattoo shops had phoenix in the name

Eren walked around his shop, making sure everything was perfect. He liked his customers to feel at home, so everything was clean, but messy enough that it didn’t feel like he belonged to some corporae company. Once he was satisfied, he walked to the door and flipped the sign around to announce he was open for the day. 

He headed back to the checkout counter to turn the music on, and wasn’t even halfway there when the door banged open. He spun around to see a young man with hair just past his shoulder and tattoos covering his right arm. 

“Can I help you?” he asked. The man looked up, then gave a once over. 

“Yeah, my receptionist thinks we should put flowers in our lobby for some fucking reason, any ideas?” Eren blinked. 

“What kind of business do you run?” He asked, walking over to the man. 

“The tattoo parlor down the street.” he replied, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Eren’s eyes grew, and he laughed. “Yeah, I know. It’s what I get for hiring a girl that wore a floral sundress to her interview.” He finished with a shrug. 

“I- uh.” Eren looked around. “I have no clue… I’ve never been asked that before…” Eren eyed his inventory. “What’s your color scheme?” 

“Mostly black. Little bit of red here and there.” Eren shrugged. 

“I’m sorry sir-”

“Armin. My name’s Armin.” Eren’s eyebrows rose. 

“A tattoo artist named Armin with a girly receptionist?” he asked, fairly amused. Armin grinned and shrugged. 

“Yeah, to be fair though, she does have a decent amount of tattoos.” Armin said with a shrug. “thanks for your help. I’ll just tell her it’s not going to happen.” Armin waved and walked out the door, hands shoved into his pockets. 

Eren stood there for a moment before shaking himself out of his daze and getting back to customer orders. 

 

Two hours later, Eren was helping his best customer, Jean, who had come in for some wysteria for his wife Mikasa, who was also Eren’s adopted sister, after saying something that made her cry. Eren didn’t feel like pointing out how easy it was to make her cry right now since she was five months pregnant, mostly because all of Jean’s mess ups were keeping him in a nice apartment. 

Right as he was finishing up the bouquet, the door slammed open once again, and Eren looked up to see a rather irate blond woman in a pink and purple floral halter-top dress march through the store. 

“What the hell?” Jean whispered. Eren felt the same way as the woman angrily yanked out various red flowers from their containers, muttering to herself all the while. Eren got back to Jean’s, and tried to sneak a peek at the tattoos that covered her back.

“Wow…” Jean said turning back. “So, is that like Garden Party Barbie gone wrong?” he whispered. Eren shrugged and handed the bouquet over to his brother in law as the woman stomeped up- an impressive feat considering her four-inch heels- to the counter. Jean walked off quickly and let her take his place. She shoved the flowers at him. 

“I’d like these.” she said with a sigh. Eren gingerly took the flowers from her.

“Any particular arrangement?” he asked. She shrugged. 

“Whatever you think is best. And if you could put them in vases it would be very much appreciated.” Eren eyed her warily. 

“It’ll cost extra.” he warned. she slapped a company credit card down on the counter. 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s an investment.” she said grumpily. she propped herself up on the counter and watched as Eren seperated the flowers into groups. 

“Any particular color vase?” he asked. 

The woman rolled her eyes. “Black.” Eren nodded slowly and went to the back to find some black vases.

When he came out again, Armin was standing next top the counter, arms crossed, and was arguing with the woman. 

“We need more color than just the art and the random-ass splashes of red!” The woman said, stomping her foot. 

“Okay, you’ve been working for a week, how many of my customers are going to care about whether or not there’s more color?” Armin asked, nodding to Eren. 

“What about the wives and girlfriends and me that have to sit in that damnable room for an hour or so while you and the customers are in the back? Did you ever think about them?” she held her hands up to stop him when he started to answer, “I know you don’t, it was facetious. But you should!” she turned back and gave Eren a creepy smile. 

“Is there a problem?” she asked, and he shook his head and began to arrange the flowers in the vase. Armin shook his head and began to leave.

“Oh no!” She called, walking quickly to catch up with him and grabbed the back of his shirt. “It’s your under decorated lobby, you’ve got to help me take every single one of those to the shop.” she insisted, pulling on him. 

Eren tried not to laugh as Armin rubbed his untattooed hand over his face and groaned. 

It wasn’t long before he took the card from the woman, and read the name “Krista Lenz” on the card before swiping it and handing it back. 

“You have a very pretty name.” he said, and she smiled. 

“Thanks. I picked it out myself.” When Eren gave her a questioning look she shrugged, “My birth name was Historia Reiss. But my dad disowned me after my first tattoo and I figured, what the hell?” she smiled cheerfully at him and he smiled back.

They were off once they picked up the last vase. Eren nodded at them with the feeling that one of them would be coming back within the week.


	2. Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they may be a lil bit out of character, but they'll be back to themselves(ish) in the next update.

Krista came in four days later, wearing a pale blue dress with forget-me-nots printed onto the material. 

“Hi Eren! I need your help!” she shoved an index car with a large swatch of dried dark blue paint on it. “What are some flowers that will go with this?” 

Eren took the card and examined it. “Why? This for your house?” 

“Oh no, my girlfriend insisted on keeping our house this beauuuutiful pastel green color. this is for the tattoo parlor. We redid the walls while we were closed. the ugly black leather stuff is still there, but the blue makes it a bit more tolerable.” Krista smiled sweetly. “Soooo, what’ll work?” 

Eren walked around the store and began pulling flowers that would complement the color. “I’m surprised that Armin actually let you do that. He seemed to like it the way it was.” 

The bell over the door rang and Eren turned to see a very annoyed Armin walk into the store.

“How did I know I’d find you here?” he asked, pointing at Krista. “Why the hell is my lobby blue?” He demanded, pointing in the direction of the parlor. Krista pursed her lips. 

“Because it needed a change of color. And blue is MUCH more soothing than black. I guarantee your customers will be a lot happier.” Krista said. Eren froze, not sure if he should keep going or not. 

“Fucking hell.. You know what, fine, but the money for however the hell you got that shit on my walls is coming out of your pay.” Krist smirked. 

“I paid for it out of pocket and Ymir helped me put it up. So there.” She finished by sticking her tongue out at Armin and turning back to Eren. “Why did you stop?” She asked with a sweet smile, but a hint of a tone that said she might possibly tear him a new one, so he went back to picking out flowers.

“Okay, that’s it Krista, give me your card and go back to the shop.” Armin said, holding out his hand. Krista stared at him.

“Beg pardon?” 

“Give me your card. The one I gave you when I hired you. Then get your flowery ass back to my shop and wait for customers to call in.” He said slowly. Krista huffed, dug through her purse, pulled out her wallet and sliped out the car and gave it to Armin.

“Great. Now the second half of the instructions.” She gave another small huff and strode out the door like she was an undersized runway model. Armin groaned. 

“I am so terribly sorry about that.” he said, slapping on a pained smile. “I’d fire her if I could afford to lose a receptionist. I tried to hire her girlfriend instead, she’s much more suited to the parlor, but she’s got a thing about needles and blood so she was a no-go.” Armin said with a laugh. 

“Is she looking for a job? If she’s good with flowers and people then I could use a hand around.” 

“I dunno. I’ll give her your number through Krista and let you figure out whether you want her or not.” Eren looked down at the flowers in his arms. 

“So- uh- do you want these or should I just put them back?” Eren asked, looking down at the flowers in his arms. 

“Go ahead. Don’t let her know, but there’s enough wiggle room for flowers.” Armin said with a grin. Eren smiled and walked back. “But don’t bother with the vases, we saved the one from our last purchase.” Eren nodded and began to arrange the flowers in bouquets that would work. 

He felt Armin’s eyes on him as he worked, and after a while turned to talk to him, hoping to stop the feeling. “So, how did she manage to get the paint up without you noticing?” he asked.

“Oh, I was out of town for a funeral.” Armin said with a shrug. “I didn’t get to the shop until a few minutes ago, so she knew it’d be done without me being able to stop her.”

Eren chuckled and went back to the flowers. 

“Okay, I’m sorry if this is sudden and weird,” Armin started, “But are you gay?” Eren turned beet red. “I’m not basing this solely off the flowershop thing, but Krista’s boobs have been hanging out and you were more distracted by the flowers in her tatoos than the ones on her breasts.” And here Armin grinned, “And I’ve known quite a few gays in my time, and you gave off the gay vibe.” it took Eren a few minutes to gather himself to give an answer.

“Uh, yeah. I am. I don’t hide it, but I try not to advertise it.” he mumbled. Armin grinned wider.

“You seeing anyone?” Eren shook his head and Armin threw his arms in the air victoriously. “Finally! Someone that’s actually hot and not taken!” he put his arms back down on the counter and leaned towards Eren, who was partially in shock from this exclamation.

“Okay, so I totally get it if you don’t want to go out, but do you want to? It’s really hard for me to find someone and you are so I’m just excited at the prospect.” Armin said rapidly. Eren stared at him.

“You’re asking me out?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Armin replied.

“Uh, sure, I haven’t gone on a date with anyone since my freshman year of college so it can’t hurt.” Armin heaved a sigh. 

“Awesome, thanks for not being scared by my outburst. Where can I pick you up or do you just want to meet somewhere?” 

Eren pointed up. “I own the whole building, including the loft upstairs.” Armin grinned. 

“Awesome, coffee during lunch break tomorrow? I close around one, that sound good?” Eren nodded, and they finished the transaction and Armin practically skipped out of the door, and it took Eren a minute to process everything that had just happened. 

Then he grinned. Armin was almost exactly his type, and he hadn’t met anyone else that was open enough to agree to a date in years. This was going to be fun.


	3. Take Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so short and that it's been so long since the last update.

Eren was straightening up the shop early the next morning when someone began knocking on his shop door. He turned to see a dark skinned woman at the door. He walked over and opened the door.

"Hi, I'm sorry, I won't be open for another hour." He said with a smile. 

"I'm actually here because I was told you were looking for assistance." She replied dryly. Eren looked over her black clothes and back up at her face. 

"May I ask who told you I was hiring?" 

"My girlfriend. She said I could come in for an interview." She replied, her eyebrows furrowed. "Krista said you'd-"

"That explains a lot." He groaned. "Armin said he'd have you call. But since you're already here we may as well begin the interview." He stepped aside and let her in. 

"Listen, I'm sorry about her." Ymir said with a grin, "She grew up rich so she's kinda used to doing whatever she pleased. But she's amazing once you can get over her impulsiveness." Eren smiled and closed the door behind her.

 

The "interview" was less of an interview and more of a conversation about flowers. Ymir admitted that she loved flowers even though every plant she tried to grow died in two days, and Eren admitted the same, and informed her it was why he had opened up a flower shop instead of a nursery. 

He decided a few minutes before he opened that she would work fine for the shop, and they agreed to her coming in the next day to start. 

She was about to walk out the door when she stopped and turned, an apologetic look on her face. 

"Um, Krista wanted me to remind you that you're supposed to go out with Armin later." Eren's eyes widened. 

"Shit, thank you, I almost forgot about that." Ymir smirked. 

"No problem. Have fun." She winked at him and walked back outside.

 

The date went smoothly.

So smoothly that it didn't end until three hours later in Eren's bedroom.

Krista was forced to reschedule Armin's appointments, making up some bullshit excuse about Armin coming down with a cold. And Eren had to run back down to make the evening rush. 

He closed two hours later and went upstairs to find Armin setting a Dominoes pizza on the counter. 

"Hey, I figured I owe you dinner since I'm the reason you had to open late." He said with a smile.

"Thanks." Eren said with a smile. "You didn't have to though." 

"Well, either way. I hope you like the supreme toppings, I didn't know what else to get." Armin said with an apologetic grin.

"Since its free I don't really care." Eren said. Armin nodded and opened the box. The two stood at the counter eating in relative silence. 

"So," Eren started as he picked up his third slice, "Does this count as a second date?" Armin chuckled. 

"I guess it does. If it ends with more sex then definitely yes." Eren snorted. 

"I guess that would definitely count then." Armin gave him a sly smile. 

"You want to turn this into a definite date then?" He asked. Eren smiled. 

"Pizza first." 

"Well no shit." 

"Then we turn it into a date. But I do need to be able to open on time tomorrow, Ymir starts and the last thing I need is to be late for that." Eren said, taking another bite of his slice. 

"Don't worry, I'll let you get some sleep." Armin smiled again.


	4. Cammie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how long this took to update.

They continued having regular dates for the following two weeks while enduring teasing from their employees. 

One day Eren was talking to Mikasa, who was planning on surprising their mother with pink and blue flowers to announce that she was having one of each, when a young child pushed through the door and started looking at the flowers singing some nonsense version of Under the Sea as she toddled around looking at the flowers. 

Mikasa smiled as she rubbed her swollen belly. "Hey sweetie," she called to the child, "where's your mama?" The girl looked over and babbled something unintelligible and went back to her song. 

The door opened and a blond blur sprinted over and swept up the little girl, who squealed loudly. 

"How many times do I have to tell you not to run off?" Armin asked the girl who was giggling uncontrollably. He looked up and grinned.

"Sorry, did she get into any trouble?" He asked. Mikasa excused herself and walked out the door while Eren shook his head.

"No, she just looked around. Is she your niece?" Armin shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Um, she's mine." He explained. "College fling ended with her." Eren blinked. 

"Oh, so you're bi?" 

"Yeah. Uh, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her earlier. She spends some time with her mom every couple months and this is the first time she’s been home since we met." He said apologetically. Eren shrugged as she babbled away and tugged on her dad's hair playfully. 

"It's no big deal. If we'd been together for a while then I might have been upset but I don't mind." Eren said with a smile. Armin grinned and flipped her around with a little toss. She squealed again. 

"Cammie, say hello." He said, tickling her chubby belly. 

"No!" She said indignantly, the first word that had been understandable since she's toddled in. 

"Young lady, say hello." He said, giving her a jiggle. Eren chuckled as she blubbered something that sounded suspiciously like "don't wanna" and kicked her tiny legs. 

"Say hello or I won't take you for ice cream." 

"HEWWO!" She yelled, terrified by the idea of not getting ice cream later. 

Eren smiled as Armin rolled his eyes. 

"I'm so sorry. Her mom isn't a very social person and just lets her get away with not talking."

"It's okay. I understand." Eren replied. Armin heaved Cammie over his shoulder and the two men arranged their next date while the little girl babbled and played with her father's hair.

 

They met two days later at a cafe joined by Cammie, who was entertaining herself with a couple of teddy bears. Armin kept apologizing for not being able to find a sitter, but Eren quite enjoyed the energetic little girl. 

Many of their next few dates were at family friendly places with Cammie in tow. Eren grew on her until one date she gave Eren a hug and refused to let go. After that Armin started dropping her off at Eren’s flower shop when he went into work so that she was in a friendlier environment when she was showered with hugs and kisses and the occasional sweet. 

 

Armin came into Eren’s apartment late on night after they’d been together for four months to find his daughter fast asleep on Eren’s guest bed. They decided that the two would stay the night in the apartment and Eren and Armin went to bed. 

The next morning they woke up early so taht they could just cuddle before Cammie woke up. 

“She’s as close to you as I am now.” Armin commented into Eren’s shoulder. 

“I’ve noticed.” Eren replied with a smile. 

“You know, as many nights as we end up spending her you’d think we live with you.” Armin joked. Eren played with Armin’s long hair thoughtfully. 

“You know, I wouldn’t mind if you two actually moved in.” he said. “It would save quite a bit of gas for you and you wouldn’t have to keep Cammie awake or wake her up so that you can go home.” Armin rolled away a little bit. 

“Are you serious? You’d be cool with it?” 

“Yeah. she’s adorable and I like having a warm bed.” Armin snorted at that, “And I wouldn’t have to worry if the two of you got home safe since you work right across the street.” 

they lay in silence while Armin thought it over. 

“Are you sure you’d be okay with it?” 

“I’d be extremely happy to have you two here.” Armin smiled and gave Eren a kiss. 

“Then it looks like I’ll be taking the weekend to pack up.” Eren grinned. 

“DADA!” Camie yelled from down the hall. Armin groaned and rolled out of the bed to go get the crying toddler.

The father and daughter had brought in the last of their boxes by the beginning of the next week. Cammie was happy to be living near Eren and Armin was glad to be living so close to his parlor. Eren was glad that he’d ba bale to make sure that both of them were safe.


	5. Birthday Present

Cammie’s third birthday came around a month after their move into the apartment. Eren closed down the shop early the day before and had Ymir help him take the displays down and move them into the back storage room. Cammie sat on the counter playing with a daisy and her baby doll occasionally shouting out orders to the adults, who would reply with “yes ma’am!” and continue what they were doing. 

Kirsta came in later with a stretch of astroturf and helped the other two roll it out. Eren was please to see that it fit perfectly inside the store and decided he might actually keep it in place, so they stapled it into the baseboards that lined the cement floor and got back to their decorations. 

Krista helped Ymir bring out a few of the tables that Eren put his flowers on while he put some of his nicer pots and vases in a large wagon and wheeled them into the front room. Armin came over on a dinner break to help arrange the flowers in the vases and spread the tablecloths over the tables. 

They brought in some cute little chairs and stood back to look over their arrangement for Cammie’s “garden” party. Eren picked the little girl off the counter. 

“Whatcha think?” he asked, “Is it good enough?” she gave the room a once over and nodded. 

“Puh-fuct.” she announced leaning into Eren’s shoulder. “Din time?” she asked. eren nodded and they said good bye to the two girls and kissed Armin before he went back to work. 

Cammie sat on the floor next to Eren while he made spaghetti. 

“Oh, sweetie, I forgot to ask.” he said, whacking himself on the forehead and kneeling down to look her in the eyes. “What would you like for your birthday.” she stared at him for a second.

“Hol on.” she ordered, scrambling to her feet. Eren chuckled as she quickly toddled down the hallway and shook his head before getting back to the spagetti. 

Cammie came back a moment later with a little pouch in her chubby hands. Eren picked her up and placed her on the counter. She held out the pouch and he took it. 

“I wanna dada.” she told him. Eren frowned and dumped the contents of the pouch into his hand.

A gold band and a slip of paper fell into his palm. Eren opened the paper up to see the words “Will you marry me?” written in Armin’s scrawl. Eren smiled and kissed the top of Cammie’s head. 

“Okay sweetie.” She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. he returned the hug, trying to keep his emotions under control. 

He waited to call Armin until Cammie was set up with her dinner, 

“Phoenix Rising Tattoos, how may I help you?” Krista asked boredly. 

“Hey, put Armin on.” Eren said, staring at the ring on his hand. 

“Okay.” He heard a slight shuffling sound before she audibly yelled “ARMIN YOUR BOYFRIEND WANTS YOU!” before snickering at her unfortunate phrasing. 

Eren heard the phone move once again. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked. 

“Why did you use your daughter to propose?” he asked. Armin laughed on the other end. 

“Because I knew you couldn’t say no to her.” He replied. “Now, in all seriousness, will you?” 

“Of course, I just wish you had asked me yourself so I could kiss you.” 

“Well I can be there in like ten seconds.” 

“you have an appoinment in three minutes.” Krista’s muffled voice reminded him. 

 

“Okay, well it’ll have to wait till we close.” Armin said with a sigh. “I’ll see you then. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

 

The next morning Armin helped Cammie into a poofy blue princess dress while Eren and Krista put together little snacks and baked the cake. 

Ymir was downstairs setting out the “glass” chinet plates and glasses with clear plastic flatware on the tables and replacing any flowers that might need replacing. 

Cammie’s mother- a serious looking woman named Annie- was the first to show up. Her daughter clung to her and told her that the night before she’d gotten another dad for her birthday. she went upstairs to meet Eren and helped take the snacks and games downstairs. 

Cammie’s little friends started arriving left and right, all dressed in disney princess costumes, and one little girl that had insisted on going as Kristoff despite her mother’s insistence that Kristoff didn’t belong at a royal garden party. 

 

The party went as smoothly as a bunch of three year olds in a room could go. At the end of the party all of the mothers and fathers took their tired toddlers home, and Eren picked Cammie up so that she could take her nap while Ymir, Krista and Armin began to clean up. 

“I love you papa.” she muttered sleepily into his neck. He stopped and felt himself melt in the middle of his living room.


	6. Ten Years Later

Eren’s niece and nephew stood with him, trying to find the perfect flowers to give their mother for her birthday. They finally found some nice carnations and some daisies they thought worked well, even if Eren thought the colors clashed, and bought them for a lot less that they were worth since he couldnt bring himself to charge them full price. 

Suddenly the door slammed open and a weeping blond haired blur swept past him and up the stairs. He heaved a sigh and ushered the twins out the door before putting up a sign saying he’d be open again in fifteen minutes. 

He made his way up the stairs and to her closed bedroom door. 

“Cammie, sweetheart, can I come in?” 

“nothing matters anymore so you might as well.” she sobbed. Eren rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. Cammie lay on her stomach with her face in her pillow. 

“What happened?” he ask, sitting on the bed beside her. 

“I got dumped.” she whined. 

“I didn’t realize you were dating anyone.” he replied with a frown. 

“God papa you’re so old. I got dance dumped. Jack said he’d take me to the dance a month ago but today he came up to me and said he was going with Tabatha and not me.” she sobbed. Eren rubbed her back. 

“It’ll be okay sweetie. He wasn’t worth your time if he switched dates that quickly.” 

“But now I’ll have to go to the Valentines dance alone.” 

“what about that kid that kept coming to your tea parties as disney princes?” 

“Transition surgery the day before. I asked.” Eren nodded. 

“why not go with Ymir and Krista’s daughter.” 

“I thought about it but she’s in ninth grade and isn’t allowed to come.” Eren tried to keep himself from laughing. Of course she’d tried everything before giving up to hysterics.

“You know, you could always go alone.” This made her sit up and give him a look that clearly called him a idiot. 

“Papa, it’s the Valentines dance. If I go alone then I’ll look like a loser.” 

“Then here’s an idea.” he leaned closer to her and she met him halfway. 

“See if Jennifer wants to go on a date.” he said. “Your dad and I won’t mind and I doubt Ymir and Krista will care. And you’ll be even cooler cause you were on a date with a high schooler.” Her eyes widened. 

“Papa you’re a genius!” she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck before rushing into the living room to make the call. Eren chuckled and made his way back downstairs. He heard the door to the shop open while he wove through the back store. 

He grinned when he came out to see Armin giving the “out to lunch” clock a curious glance. 

“What’re you doing here during work hours?” he asked. Armin turned back with a smile. 

“I promised Cammie I’d take her dress shopping for the dance.” Eren laughed and gave his husband a kiss. 

“Well, she’d not going to the dance.” He explained everything while he took the sign down. Armin ended up snorting. 

“Babe, you’re going to end up needing a “Daughter drama, back in thirty minutes” sign soon.” eren nodded, tossing the lunch sign over the counter. 

“she’s turning into a teenager and she’s always been dramatic, it was bound to get worse.” eren said with a sigh. 

“I don’t know where she gets it. Her mom’s not dramatic whatsoever.” Eren raised his eyebrows. 

“You pretty much exploded when you found out I was into guys and you’re wondering where she gets it from?” Armin waved him off. 

“Yeah, but I never did anything like that when I was younger.” 

they both stopped their conversation as a succession of loud thumps quickly grew louder. Rose came out, her face a touch damp and a tiny purse slung across her body. 

“Kay Dad, I’m ready to go.” she said, fluffing her hair. 

“I thought you weren’t going to the dance.” Armin said, confused. She rolled her eyes and huffed. 

“Well I can’t go on a Valentine's Day date in any old outfit.” she said as if it should be obvious. “Especially if I want to show up Tabatha.” she adjusted her jacket with a malevolent grin. “Jack’s going to be so embarrassed. His masculinity is so fragile you could break it by dropping a feather on it. I can’t wait to see his face when he hears Jennifer would rather go on a date with me than with him.” She flounced over to the door. Armin gave Eren a helpless look. 

“Where did we go wrong?” he asked. 

“don’t look at me. I blame her mother. She was always a bit too keen on revenge.” Eren said with a shake of his head. 

“Daaaaaaaaad,” Cammie groaned from the door, “Come ooooooooon.” Armin gave Eren a kiss and headed over to the door. “Papa, can you come too?” she asked sweetly. He tried to say he needed to stay but she was giving him her bambi eyes and he couldn’t bring himself to say it. 

“Yeah, sure. just give me a second.” She squealed and ran at him, tackling him around the waist. 

Armin smiled at them from the door while Cammie helped close up so they could leave. 

 

A week later Eren helped Cammie curl her long hair before the date. Cammie carefully applied make-up and he couldn’t help but wonder if her mother taught her because neither he nor Armin knew the first thing about makeup. 

“You know, this is even better because I’ve thought Jen was super cute from day one.” Eren smiled down at her. 

“Don’t let the conservatives hear that, it’ll just firm their belief that same-sex couples raise gay kids.” He replied. She snorted and covered her mouth. “Very graceful.” ERen muttered. 

“Oh hush. Either way I hope it becomes something more, like you and dad.” she said. 

“Well, that can wait a few years. You’re only thirteen so try to focus on being a teenager until college.” he told her. 

“Well, whatever. It’ll still be nice to fool around.” Eren burnt his finger on the curling iron in his surprise. 

“Young lady, what do you mean by that?” 

“You know, kiss and hold hands and hug.” Eren gave a sigh of relief. 

“Well. your hair’s all done, so I guess you can go.” She stood up, fluffled her hair, then turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

‘Thanks papa.” she said, giving him a hug before going outside to wait for Jennifer. 

A knock came at the door a minute later and Cammie ran to open the door. Ymir and Krista’s adopted daughter stood awkwardly at the door with some red tulips in her hand. 

Armin took Eren’s hand as the two girls talked. 

“she grew up way too fast.” he whispered. Eren nodded. 

“She did, and she’ll continue to.” he replied. “That’s why I take so many pictures.” Armin chuckled as the two girls waved goodbye and headed out. they moved to the window and watched them walk down the street. 

“Before you know it we’ll be paying for them to get married.” Armin said, wrapping his arm around Eren’s waist. 

“Yeah, I just hope she doesn’t try to grow up too early.” 

“Nah, I don’t think we need to worry about that.” Eren said, leaning into his husband. “She’s liking being a dramatic teenager too much.” 

They smiled and watched as the girls disappeared around the corner.


End file.
